Prior art machines are adept at forming metal strips or sheets into desired shapes. However, certain prior art machines such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,748,884, 3,903,723, 3,914,971 and 3,945,232, all by Colbath, are complicated and cumbersome to adjust to form different shapes. The basic Colbath machine, manufactured by Monitor, Inc. of Sherman, Texas, is composed of two parts. A lower frame supports a plurality of sets of drive rollers. An upper frame or spine supports a plurality of sets of forming rollers which are interleaved with the sets of drive rollers. The spine and its forming rollers are replaced by another spine to form another shape. The various spines and the overhead crane necessary to replace them add greatly to the expense of the machine and the use for forming of only every other station (those on the spine) renders the machine unnecessarily long, all for the purpose of rapid adjustment. The separation of the driving and forming functions also results in the leading edge of the workpiece being pushed through the forming rollers it encounters, causing buckling in lighter gauge metals and restricting effective use of the machine with lighter gauge metals to continuous strips rather than precut lengths.
Colbath U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,884 also discloses a roll forming machine having replaceable-spine-mounted combination drive-forming rollers connectable to adjacent frame-mounted drive motors. The rollers have a convoluted complimentary shape which scuffs the workpiece as it progresses through the machine. The entire spine and all rollers must be replaced to change shapes.
Yoder U.S. Pat. No. 2,176,115 the Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 726,691 both disclose earlier roll-forming machines which were not easily convertible to different shapes. Both use forming rollers having convoluted complimentary shapes. Other machines are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 421,961 to Nauman; 808,356 to Foster; 1,261,735 to Hunker; 1,673,787 to Frahm; 2,012,795 to Park; 2,405,128 to Berquist; 2,682,850 to Close and 2,948,324 to Penrose.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved roll forming machine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a roll forming machine which may be easily and inexpensively adapted to form different shapes.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a compact, adjustable roll forming machine.